Brussels Mediating Over Serb Votes In Kosovo
By Bojana Barlovac
Ten days ahead of Serbian elections, Brussels, Belgrade and Pristina are trying to find a solution on how to let Kosovo Serbs vote in the presidential and parliamentary polls.
Brussels is in constant touch with Belgrade and Pristina seeking a solution to enable Serbs in Kosovo to vote in Serbia’s presidential and general elections, Balkan Insight has learned from a Brussels diplomat.
“The situation is complicated as Serbs should be allowed to vote [in Kosovo], as that is the European practice as well, but it is also a matter of security due to recent tension in the north [of Kosovo],” the diplomat told Balkan Insight.
According to the Brussels source, the plan is to for the OSCE to provide the logistics, as Kosovo is opposed to the Serbian state playing any role in voting inside Kosovo.
General, local and presidential elections are scheduled for May 6 in Serbia. Serbian nationals living in other countries can vote in the presidential and general elections, in their country of residence.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 but Serbia still perceives it as part of its southern province, which is why it has no embassy in Pristina where Serbs could vote.
Goran Bogdanovic, Serbian Minister for Kosovo, confirmed that talks with the OSCE on organising the elections were underway.
“We are willing to accept the OSCE’s help but in no way can the OSCE organise the presidential and parliamentary elections, and that is the dispute,” Bogdanovic said.
According to the minister, many things have been agreed, including the number of polling stations and constituencies as well as buildings where the voting will be held. They have also agreed on symbols at pollings stations, which will be the OSCE symbol and not the emblem of the state of Serbia.
“But we did not agree on the key issue – who should organise it,” he added.
Kosovo authorities have also they will back voting in Serbian presidential and general elections taking place in Kosovo – if it is not organised by Serbia directly or by local Serbian-run institutions.
Kosovo’s President Atifeta Jahjaga and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci have released a statement saying that they had nothing against the OSCE or Council of Europe hosting Serbian legislative and presidential elections in Kosovo.
However, Arber Vllahiu, spokesperson of the Kosovo president, said the Kosovo President had not yet received an official request from the OSCE mission in Kosovo to assist those people holding dual citizenship in Kosovo to participate in the May 6 elections.
Just as the USA was able to hive off a piece of Serbia (Kosovo Province) to establish an imperialist base for aggression in the Middle East, so Serbia ought to hive off that part of Kosovo still inhabited by Serbs loyal to Serbia.
The so called “ethnic” situation was a red herring; latent differences between Muslim Albanians and Orthodox Christians were cordial and peaceful albeit in separate communities until the outsiders came in to stir up trouble to serve their own ends.
Unfortunately it is unrealistic to expect the two sides to agree to any re-unification but as the territory of Kosovo is effectively North-South divided along ethnic lines another political division to reflect this fact would be workable.